Dunchurch Post Office gets new allies

Chris Armstrong

Roland Cilliers/Beacon Star

Mayor Chris Armstrong told the attendees of Tuesday’s council meeting that he is hopeful the community will be able to raise the $10,000 needed for renovations to make the local school a viable location for the post office.

WHITESTONE TWP. – Dunchurch is not going to lose its post office if the residents have anything to say about it.
Ever since Canada Post announced plans to remove the post office in the small community, the people have worked to reverse the decision. At Tuesday night’s Municipality of Whitestone council meeting, the movement gained a new ally.
“I’m not going to let you die on that hill,” said councillor Joe Lamb, following a request to council for a donation to the recently established fund to keep the post office in town.
Several weeks ago, a call went out to the community with the goal of raising roughly $10,000.
The money would go towards renovating the Whitestone Lake Central School so that it would be a suitable location to move the post office into.
Currently, the post office in the small community east of Parry Sound is located in a temporary trailer supplied by the municipality. Canada Post is not entirely happy with that arrangement and wants a permanent location with a postmaster.
Canada Post has said that if a suitable replacement is not found by January 31, 2013 the current office would be shut down and replaced with a large community mailbox.
Council said they would not be able to make the donation for some time, but that they were certainly willing to help the project.
Chris Armstrong, mayor of the municipality of Whitestone, said he hopes the project can continue to move forward.
“This is a unique situation, it has never happened before country wide,” said Armstrong. “I believe there’s co-operation, so, hopefully, with the fundraising ideally the $10,000 is raised. The interesting part, I believe, is everyone is talking about it quite positively.”
As of Tuesday’s council meeting, $4,630 had been raised for the project. Organizers have said the speed with which that money had been raised is a good indicator that they will be able to reach the $10,000 goal.
Sherry Green, who has led the effort to keep the post office in town, told council that the most useful thing they could do was provide a donation in the event the effort falls short of the final goal.
“If our funds are not quite enough and council can make an effort to top up I would probably appreciate that more, and I think the community would to. We’ve shown this much effort and we’re almost half way to the goal of $10,000,” Green said.
The movement still faces significant obstacles. The deadline from Canada Post for when the new site needs to be finished by and the need for an eligible post mistress to be selected are both challenges facing supporters.
“I am hopeful that this wonderful show of community support will sway the decision makers - our school board and Canada Post. Our next step, we need to have an agreement with the school board, Canada Post and the post mistress,” Green said.
Other concerns include potential problems with the school board. The Near North District School Board has been making moves to close schools in the region with low enrollment numbers.
Barry Bell, the chair of the school council in Whitestone, said the plan to move a post office into the school has been met with interest by the board.
“It has gone to the superintendant who took it to the board of directors. It has gone as high as it can go and a lot of people have had an opportunity to say no,” Bell said. “Because they do have economic problems, and this wouldn’t solve their problems, but it would help offset some of the problems.”
The board has said that its primary concern is that the post office not negatively effect the students in any way.
“They are interested in at least exploring the idea, but they are very concrete that it could not affect the learning experience of the child, and it can not jeopardize their safety. I believe there is a way that can be done,” said Bell.
The planned renovations would involve the construction of a barrier that would keep the proposed post office area completely separate from where the students would be.